The Big Bang In Israeli Politics

Washington, D.C. As I am writing this column, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon is reported to have suffered a debilitating stroke, and deputy prime minister Ehud Olmert has assumed Sharon’s duties for the time being. That development is all the more serious as Sharon recently set in motion a radical realignment of his country’s political landscape. Commentators have dubbed the changes the “big bang” of Israeli politics.

After quitting as leader and member of Likud, the party that he so decisively helped to shape for a decade, Sharon announced on November 21 that he and his political allies were forming a new political party, named Kadima (Forward, in English). It is to oppose not only the radical Likudniks who stubbornly reject any kind of Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian land, but also the liberals willing to give up East Jerusalem and all settlements in the occupied territory.

For decades, Sharon was the leading promoter of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories captured in the 1967 war. Recently, however, he seemed to change course when he announced that Israelis will have to make more territorial concessions than merely the withdrawal from Gaza. He explained that the return of parts of Judea and Samaria to its 2.4 million Palestinian residents was necessary if Israel was to remain a state with a clear Jewish majority.

According to Kadima’s platform, “Deciding between the wish to allow any Jew to live anywhere in the Land of Israel and the existence of the State of Israel as the national Jewish home requires giving up part of the Land of Israel.“

Due to the resignation of Sharon’s government, a new Knesset will have to be elected on March 28. Israel’s voters will again be deciding who is to shape the nation’s future relations with the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Will there be a negotiated settlement that will allow both sides to live in peace, or will the violence-ridden occupation of 38 years continue indefinitely? This issue remains crucial for the reduction of much of the Muslim terror that continues to be spawned by the unrelenting occupation of Arab land by militarily superior Israeli forces.

Likud’s and Labor’s popularity has plummeted as numerous prominent members of both parties defected to Kadima, including former Labor prime minister Shimon Peres. Opinion polls forecast that 40 Kadima deputies may get elected to the next 120-seat Knesset, thus placing Kadima in a comfortable position to form a coalition of all those willing to give up land for peace.

Yet, while Palestinians expect their future state to encompass all of Judea, Samaria, the Gaza, and East Jerusalem, ultranationalist Torah-invoking Israelis stake a claim to all of the territories captured from the Arabs in 1967. The Kadima platform insists on all of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, regardless of the fact that presently 185,000 Palestinians reside in East Jerusalem together with 176,000 Israelis. Sharon also left not doubt that he wants to retain large blocs of Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria where presently some 245,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.4 million Palestinians.

In agreeing to the U.S.-proposed “road map,” Sharon had promised to remove dozens of settlers’ outposts but almost all of them remain in place. On December 26, new building tenders were announced for 228 West Bank settlement homes. The Sharon government has also failed to stop building inside the established settlements, all branded illegal by the World Court.

Ehud Olmert, best known as the controversial mayor of Jerusalem (from 1993 to 2003) may well become Israel’s next prime minister. He was a vocal supporter of Sharon’s unilateral disengagement from Gaza. As one of the founding fathers of Kadima and its platform, Olmert is also likely to favor unilaterally imposing upon the Palestinians Kadima’s plan for a truncated, semi-sovereign, and defenseless Palestinian state without East Jerusalem. In accordance with the “road map,” there will be negotiations, but they will likely deal only with minor details that Kadima may be willing to concede.

Wolf D. Fuhrig	Home	01-08-06
The Big Bang In Israeli Politics
*Washington, D.C.* As I am writing this column, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon is reported to have suffered a debilitating stroke, and deputy prime minister Ehud Olmert has assumed Sharon’s duties for the time being. That development is all the more serious as Sharon recently set in motion a radical realignment of his country’s political landscape. Commentators have dubbed the changes the “big bang” of Israeli politics. After quitting as leader and member of Likud, the party that he so decisively helped to shape for a decade, Sharon announced on November 21 that he and his political allies were forming a new political party, named Kadima (Forward, in English). It is to oppose not only the radical Likudniks who stubbornly reject any kind of Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian land, but also the liberals willing to give up East Jerusalem and all settlements in the occupied territory. For decades, Sharon was the leading promoter of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories captured in the 1967 war. Recently, however, he seemed to change course when he announced that Israelis will have to make more territorial concessions than merely the withdrawal from Gaza. He explained that the return of parts of Judea and Samaria to its 2.4 million Palestinian residents was necessary if Israel was to remain a state with a clear Jewish majority. According to Kadima’s platform, “Deciding between the wish to allow any Jew to live anywhere in the Land of Israel and the existence of the State of Israel as the national Jewish home requires giving up part of the Land of Israel.“ Due to the resignation of Sharon’s government, a new Knesset will have to be elected on March 28. Israel’s voters will again be deciding who is to shape the nation’s future relations with the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Will there be a negotiated settlement that will allow both sides to live in peace, or will the violence-ridden occupation of 38 years continue indefinitely? This issue remains crucial for the reduction of much of the Muslim terror that continues to be spawned by the unrelenting occupation of Arab land by militarily superior Israeli forces. Likud’s and Labor’s popularity has plummeted as numerous prominent members of both parties defected to Kadima, including former Labor prime minister Shimon Peres. Opinion polls forecast that 40 Kadima deputies may get elected to the next 120-seat Knesset, thus placing Kadima in a comfortable position to form a coalition of all those willing to give up land for peace. Yet, while Palestinians expect their future state to encompass all of Judea, Samaria, the Gaza, and East Jerusalem, ultranationalist Torah-invoking Israelis stake a claim to all of the territories captured from the Arabs in 1967. The Kadima platform insists on all of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, regardless of the fact that presently 185,000 Palestinians reside in East Jerusalem together with 176,000 Israelis. Sharon also left not doubt that he wants to retain large blocs of Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria where presently some 245,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.4 million Palestinians. In agreeing to the U.S.-proposed “road map,” Sharon had promised to remove dozens of settlers’ outposts but almost all of them remain in place. On December 26, new building tenders were announced for 228 West Bank settlement homes. The Sharon government has also failed to stop building inside the established settlements, all branded illegal by the World Court. Ehud Olmert, best known as the controversial mayor of Jerusalem (from 1993 to 2003) may well become Israel’s next prime minister. He was a vocal supporter of Sharon’s unilateral disengagement from Gaza. As one of the founding fathers of Kadima and its platform, Olmert is also likely to favor unilaterally imposing upon the Palestinians Kadima’s plan for a truncated, semi-sovereign, and defenseless Palestinian state without East Jerusalem. In accordance with the “road map,” there will be negotiations, but they will likely deal only with minor details that Kadima may be willing to concede.

Wolf D. Fuhrig

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01-08-06

The Big Bang In Israeli Politics